


You grow like ivy around me

by TheFrenchiestAce



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Flowers, Language of Flowers, M/M, Magic, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-11
Updated: 2016-08-11
Packaged: 2018-08-08 03:27:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7741633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFrenchiestAce/pseuds/TheFrenchiestAce
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aaron tries to control his powers in public but that task proves to be hard when Alexander keeps making him feel things he isn't prepared for</p>
            </blockquote>





	You grow like ivy around me

**Author's Note:**

> Based on my magic!au (http://pinkconsultingsociopath.tumblr.com/post/145094425730/magicau)  
> Aaron has plant-related powers that manifest when he wills them to or feels strong emotions

“You’re doing it again”

Aaron snapped out of his reverie at the sound of his friend’s voice. He turned his head to see her smiling knowingly, an eyebrow raised. 

“What?" 

"Staring at Alexander~” she cooed, her smile turning into a smirk 

“Theo." 

"Then how come your hands are covered in gardenias?" 

He looked down at himself and silently curses, willing the pale flowers to disappear. This had been happening a lot lately, but he was usually able to stop them from showing. Theodosia stopped smiling a few seconds to watch the flowers vanish, mesmerized, then resumed her "embarassing my best friend” moment. 

“So." 

"I don’t want to talk about it." 

"Aaron, hon, you’re gonna have to do something about it or else the school will turn into a public garden." 

The other student tried to disappear into his scarf, but no such luck. He hadn’t planned to start having feelings for loud, bright, annoying Alexander. With powers like his he couldn’t afford to have strong feelings, it was just too much of a risk. But he had been going softer ever since coming to college, no big incidents happening and his meeting with Theodosia, his rock and confident. As a result, whenever Alexander was in the same room, little flowers and plants starts to sprout around Aaron, either on him or his stuff. They would always love or affection-related plants, making it even more embarassing for him. Thankfully, no-one besides Theo seemed to have noticed yet, and if that meant getting teased endlessly, it was always better than to be burned at the stake. 

These morbid thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of no less than the subject of the intervention, who had visibly run from his side of the library to here. 

"Mister Burr, sir!" 

"What, Hamilton” Aaron mentally cringed, as much as his heart and powers found the other man attractive, he had trouble getting past his general attitude, especially when Alex frequently came to ask him for small weird favors, such as helping him prove a point to his friends or hold his cup of coffee while he went to argue with Jefferson. Both had been denied, of course, but it never stopped the energetic guy from coming back to Aaron. 

Back to the matter in hand. Hamilton was rambling, and Theo had left a minute ago with a “I’ll leave you to it!” and a wink. Traitor. Aaron tried to focus on what the other was saying.

“-and so I thought that it would be logical to meet this week and work on it, but not here ‘cause we know Jefferson would try to cheat and listen to our ideas, and not at a café either ‘cause it’s way too loud to concentrate-”

Aaron almost snorted, usually the only loud thing in a room was the man standing in front of him, but he couldn’t be bothered when it gave him the chance to listen to one of his passionate rants, watch his eyes lit up while he gestured and talked.

“-so I was thinking about either my room, except it’s really messy in there, or yours.”

He stopped talking and looked expectantly at Aaron, visibly waiting for an answer. Usually he would ponder for days on such an offer, but right now he could see tiny variegated tulips starting to grow in the palms of his hands in the corner of his eyes, and had to turn his hands face down to hide the flowers. This was bad. Breathe, Aaron, he told himself, and closed his eyes for a moment. Alexander was still here when he opened them, bright eyes and a tiny smile playing on his lips. A part of him would have loved to spend more time with the other, but another knew that with the way his power was reacting, it could only lead to a disaster. Alexander could see, could judge him, maybe even tell others about it, and then, and then-

He couldn’t.

“No.”

Confusion flashed across his handsome face, and maybe a bit of hurt, but Aaron knew what he had to do.

“But- I just told you that we have to meet to go over our assignment”

“And I cannot meet with you, sorry”

Alexander crossed his arms over his chest in what Aaron recognized as his arguing stance. 

“How come?”

“I’m busy.”

“And yet you’re lounging in the library chatting with a friend”

Aaron felt his temper rise, and willed himself to keep his cool. He’d barely managed to repress the tulips during the rest of their talk, and would have preferred to keep the afternoon incident-free. Still, Alexander’s judgement stung, and he wished it didn’t have to come down to this.

“This isn’t the subject. Why don’t we each write our part and send it to the other to see what needs to be adjusted, and I’ll put the final product together to send to Washington”

For a second it seemed like he was about to argue back, but then he huffed and leant on Aaron’s table to add one last thing

“Alright. But hiding behind imaginary activities, Aaron? I’m disappointed.”

Then he was gone, leaving his classmate to bang his head on the table, dead leaves pooling at his feet. He was grateful for the table that hid them, and didn’t bother to pick them up. He knew what they meant.

***

The next few days were quiet, as Aaron spent most of his time inside, working on different assignments and moping. He hadn’t lied when he said that he was busy. College professors always made sure of that, some even giving him more work, a wicked way to see if he could live up to his excellent student reputation. 

Staying inside was also a way to let himself relax, breathe, and let his ability manifest itself freely. Flowers and plants could be found in every corner of his dorm, some in actual pots, others even in mugs when he couldn’t find more room. Many weren’t supposed to bloom during this season, or on this continent, but his power allowed him to sprout any plants from nothing, and he loved to spend time watching them grow on his stuff on skin. They never died or faded away, their state depending or his health and mood, and reacted to him when he walked past pots. Theo had spent several hours admiring his room when he first let her in, complimenting each and every one of the species, squealing in front of the most exotic ones, and it had made him feel better about this gift that he often saw as a curse.

Part of why his week had been so quiet was also due to the lack of interaction with Alexander. The assignment had only taken a day to finish, and though the older student had argued that his part wasn’t too long, he had agreed to cut it a little so the difference between his and Aaron’s wouldn’t be too obvious. Other than that, they had avoided each other in classes, Aaron trying to prevent another incident from happening, and Alexander pouting, giving Aaron pointed stares when he saw him hanging out with Theodosia.

On the 4th day, Alexander approached him again, looking determined. It was a warm day of autumn, and Aaron had been sitting outside behind one of the school’s buildings, enjoying the feeling of the ground beneath him and the tree he was leaning against. The school’s tree stems often had inscriptions graved into the wood, and he had been working at making the bark grow back over it, shaking his head at the students’ careless antics. He stopped when he heard the other’s footsteps over the dead leaves, quickly pulling his sleeves back on his forearms, where he had started to grow leaves. Alexander gave him a weird look but kept getting closer, before plopping down next to him. As usual, not asking permission before joining him

“Aaron Burr, sir!”

“It’s been months Hamilton, you can drop the full name”

“What should I call you then? Burr? Aaron? Ronny? Bu-”

“Alexander!”

The use of his first name seemed to throw him off, and he paused to stare at Aaron, who took a breath, mourning the quiet of a few moments ago. He tried not to think of the way the other’s eyes had lit up when he had said his name.

“Yes, Burr, sir?”

“Talk less.” Alexander raised an eyebrow. “and you can call me Aaron”

“Okay then, Aaron” he answered, a slow smile spreading on his lips

To Burr’s absolute horror, a single red carnation appeared in Alex’s hair, bright and colorful. The other didn’t seem to notice, and Aaron tried to get back on track.

“What did you want?”

“Right. Well I thought after a while you would accept to hang out again, but you’ve been avoiding me so I wanted to see what you were up to”

As the seconds tick by, Aaron started to think that the presence of the flower wasn’t so bad. He just had to keep Alexander here while he willed for it to disappear.

“Why do you insist on hanging out with me?”

“Er, because you’re nice? To talk to I mean”

“So are your friends, it seems”

“Yeah but you’re the only one who can argue with me for more than 5 minutes”

“Jefferson can do that too”

Arguing gave him a sense of control, and he could already see the flower starting to disappear. Alexander, on the other hand, seemed to be growing frustrated. He got closer with each sentence

“Jefferson’s a dick.”

“But he can argue with you”

“Yes but it isn’t as pleasant!”

Silence.

“What?”

“God damnit Aaron, is it so hard to get that I actually like your company? Why do you always have to hide away?”

And just like that, the flower bloomed again in full force, as well as gloxinias and white heathers, drawing a small flower crown on his head, still too high for him to see, but making him look lovely. Aaron was so screwed.

“I.. have to go”

“Wait, Aaron!”

He stood up and headed to his dorm, hoping that the distance would make the flowers disappear, but Alexander started following him. There were no exclamation behind him so either he hadn’t started leaving leaves in his wake, or the other was too focused to notice. Neither sounded reassuring because he was still following him. As he neared his building, he sent a quick text to Theodosia

-Theo help, may have created a flower crown in alex’s hair, he’s following me to my dorm!!

-Ooh kinky

-THEO

-Maybe this is your chance, sprout into action

Haha get it, because you have plant related powers

GO GET HIM BOI

He pocketed his phone and sighed, bracing himself, and then stopped walking. Alexander crashed into him, muttering an “ow” before looking up at him, confused but visibly relieved.

“Aaron I-”

“Did you mean it?”

“What- oh. Yes. I do like you, Aaron”

The taller man took an inspiration. This was a leap of faith, and a huge one. But if anything, he knew Alexander wouldn’t give up unless he talked to him, and kept the feeble hope that no one will believe him if he tried to tell others.

He waited a few seconds, searching in the other man’s eyes for a sign that was he was about to do wasn’t completely crazy. When he found determination and fondness, he reached out and took his hand. Alexander looked startled at first but then smiled and squeezed his hand

“Follow me”

They walked up the stairs together, and Aaron halted to collect himself once more in front of his door.

“Aaron?”

“Please do not scream”

“Wow Aaron, way to charm the guy before bringing him into your roo- oh”

For once, Alexander Hamilton became quiet. No remarks or loud exclamations, and Aaron drank the sight of him taking the view in. He saw his eyes dance from one pot to the other, to the ivy that had started to climb on the wall beside his bed, where he liked to curl up to read. He let go of his hand, letting him wander in the room, and went to sit on his bed, waiting for Alex to look back at him. When he did, he slowly raised his arm, the palm of his hand facing the ceiling, and unfolded his fingers to reveal a red rose blooming on his skin, facing towards the object of his affection. He witnessed the moment Alexander understood, could see the gears turning in that beautiful head of his, and tried to smile as he could see pine leaves growing around him.

“Is this why you’ve been avoiding me?”

He nodded, not trusting himself to speak at the moment, and let the rose grow out of his hand to reach Alexander, letting out a small breath he hadn’t realized he was holding when he accepted the flower.

Alexander’s cheeks were as red as the flowers in his hair and the rose in his hands, and he had never looked more beautiful. When he smiled, hydrangeas of all colors grew around him, and he beamed before closing the distance between Aaron and him, handing him the crimson flower back.

As they kissed, Aaron swore Alexander’s lips were softer than any petal he’d ever touched, and huffed out a laugh as he felt the other place a flower on his head.

**Author's Note:**

> Flower meanings:  
> White gardenia - You're lovely/secret love  
> Variegated tulip - Beautiful eyes  
> Dead leaves - Sadness/defeat  
> Red carnation - "My heart aches for you"  
> Gloxinia - Love at first sight  
> White heather - Protection/wishes will come true  
> (single) Red rose - I love you  
> Pine leaves - Hope  
> Hydrangea - "Thank you for understanding"

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [a crown of maple leaves, a crown of flowers](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7758136) by [bluecarrot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluecarrot/pseuds/bluecarrot)




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